Irregular verbs are the bane of every French student's existence, but there is some good news. There are some patterns in the irregularities - once you learn the conjugations for one verb in a group, you shouldn't have any trouble with the other verbs in that group.
There are two groups of irregular -IR verbs:
1. The first group of irregular verbs includes dormir, mentir, partir, sentir, servir, sortir, and all of their derivations (repartir, etc). These verbs drop the last letter of the radical in the singular conjugations - see example in table below.
2. The second group of verbs includes couvrir, cueillir, découvrir, offrir, ouvrir, souffrir, and their derivations (recouvrir, etc). These verbs are conjugated like regular -ER verbs - see example in table below.
The rest of the irregular -IR verbs don't follow a pattern - you have to memorize the conjugations for each one separately: asseoir, courir, devoir, falloir, mourir, pleuvoir, pouvoir, recevoir, savoir, tenir, valoir, venir, voir, vouloir
Click any verb for the complete conjugation table.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | |||
| Pronoun | Endings | dormir > dor(m)- | Endings | couvrir > couvr- |
| je | -s | dors | -e | couvre |
| tu | -s | dors | -es | couvres |
| il | -t | dort | -e | couvre |
| nous | -ons | dormons | -ons | couvrons |
| vous | -ez | dormez | -ez | couvrez |
| ils | -ent | dorment | -ent | couvrent |
| Test on irregular -IR verbs | ||||
